The Art of Thinking Clearly Book Review

A few days ago I finished reading a book named The Art of Thinking Clearly, written by Rolf Dobelli.

I’m a huge fan of personal development books, and I read quite a lot of them. However, this one is not a very typical one. If you are looking for mindset books, this one is not for you.

The Art of Thinking Clearly is more of a psychology book, and it’s more focused on your mind. Hence, the name of the book.

One really cool thing to mention about this book is that it’s very very simple to read. It’s broken down into about 90+ chapters. Each of them is only 3 pages. That’s what makes it easy to consume.

Another fact is there’s pretty much no fluff in the book. Most books cover a ton of stories that you can skip through. In this book the stories are very short, so you can skim them and get straight to the point.

Like I mentioned, the The Art of Thinking Clearly is not the most typical “self-help” book. There are things that I agree with, but also things that I disagree. This review is strongly my opinion. You are free to have a different opinion.

So here are my key takeaways from the book:

1.Social proof – herd instinct. When others do something, you do it too. That is completely true, especially if you walk outside and look around. Let’s say if there are 10 people standing, and then they start to cross the road. Without even thinking, you’re gonna go too.

2.If you invest too much time or energy into something and it fails, just let it go. There are times when we may invest a lot of money into training products or coaching, and then it doesn’t bring results we were looking for. Get over it. There’s nothing you can do but let go. Another great example might be – you spend a LOT of time to record a high quality video or even a big training webinar, and then all of a sudden you realize that your camera wasn’t recording anything. This happens. Let it go. Don’t invest your energy into being disappointed or angry. Not worth it.

3.People first used stories to explain the world, before they began to think scientifically. Stories attract us, abstract details repel us. No need for any explanation. Stories sell. Use them, especially in your marketing.

4.The more we like someone, the more inclined we are to buy from or help that person. If you want people to buy something from YOU, you’ve gotta become someone they like. The likability factor is explained in many different books. And it works all the time.

5.Rare is valuable. When we are deprived of an option, we suddenly deem it more attractive. A great example might be – you have only 5 slots open for private coaching. When something is limited, people feel the urgency to buy it NOW. Definitely use it in your business.

6.News is to the mind what sugar is to the body: appetizing, easy to digest – and highly destructive in the long run. The point is – no point in watching the news. If something is important enough, you’ll find out through social media or someone will tell you. News is irrelevant – how does it help you make better decisions? It doesn’t. It’s simply a waste of time.

And here are a couple of things that I don’t agree with:

1.When you intend to start a business, look at other ventures 3 years from now. I personally don’t see any value in doing that. You should never EVER compare yourself to others. Why? Because every company is very different. Don’t look at others and keep working on YOUR business!

2.Luck plays a bigger role than skills. Well, for some people it might be true, not for me. I don’t know about you, but with anything I’ve done so far in life and business, I HAD to learn certain skills to get to a point I wanted to. If you’re in home business, you always have to sharpen your skills. That’s what’s gonna take you to the next level. I never see luck in HUGE success.

3.Eliminate all errors and better thinking will follow. This one is arguable, but it’s very difficult to get rid of ALL of the errors completely. They are going to surround you anyways.

The Art of Thinking Clearly Quotes

“The human brain seeks patterns and rules. In fact, it takes it one step further: If it finds no familiar patterns, it simply invents some.”

“Raise expectations for yourself and for the people you love. This increases motivation.”

“Become your own toughest critic.”

All in all, I would still recommend the book, because most of the takeaways that I got are something you can totally implement into your business. You can get the book here on the author’s website. Have you read the book? Let me know in the comments! Would love to know your thoughts!

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